Here is my attempt at the 32x32 castle challenge. Technially, the front archway overhangs by 1 stud, and the flags stick out past the baseplate, but otherwise the footprint is still 32x32. I wanted it to have a fair amount of detail for a MOC, but I also wanted to make it similar to the older style Lego castles from the 80's so I still kept it somewhat simple and didn't add a few things, such as landscaping.

I hope you enjoy it, I had fun making it. If you see something you like or have any suggestions for improvement, please let me know.

Athos wrote:I think you've over done it (just a bit) on trying to avoid the big grey wall...

I think he really didn't. I like it this way, with much variation in the walls. But that's just my opinion.

I think the castle looks great. You did a great job on the your challenge. The castle is pretty small because of the challenge, but I think it still looks great because of the amount of detail. Do you have pictures of the inside of the 'right-back' tower? Does it have interior?

Thanks for the responses and input. I'll have to mess around with the mottled wall look a bit I think. I do find that it's tricky balancing making it interesting, but not overly busy. I don't currently have any sand blue, but I'll keep my eyes open for some and try it out to see if that looks better, thanks for the tip.

I didn't do an interior this time on the main keep, I may modify it at some point and put something in, I'll see how it goes.

Re: Big Grey Wall Syndrome.Maybe it's not so much that you overdid it but more that you've a really stripey effect going on in a couple of places. There is a diagonal dark grey stripe on the far left of the pic that could have been broke up by replacing one of them with a light grey instead. There is also a bit of a horizontal stripe that runs from the gate to the right side. These are nitpicks, I know, but it is something to watch out for in the future. Hey, this challenge is all about trying out some things we may be new to or something we've never tried before. Nice job!

Trevor

Trust me, I think I'm funnier than you do.Why do I have to add the word "minifig" to my spell checker every time I use it?!

say what you will, I think you've got an awesome castle here. Does it open up or give access to the interior at all? And the stipulations did only mention the base-plate has to be 32X32 nothing about it extending over.

The mottling is fairly well-done. It's probably a bit on the heavy side but it works quite well. Typically, if you avoid large horizontal/vertical stripes you're mottling is bound to look okay. There are a few awkward spots here and there, but nothing that seriously detracts from the MOC. A word of caution; be careful in your colour selection when mottling. Medium blue is too vibrant. Also, try to mix it up a bit. There are a number of colours that can be used to great effect. Consider the following:

While some of these colours are extremely hard to come by (1x2 sand red bricks will cost you a small fortune on bricklink), they are an excellent way to make your mottled MOC stand out a bit more. You don't need alot of any of these colours to mottle effectively as over-mottled MOCs tend to be distracting. For a MOC your size, 20-30 sand green, tan or dark tan bricks + 10-20 brown bricks could do some very interesting things. Sand red is my favourite of the aforementioned non-grey/bley colours however unless LEGO decides to do another run of sand red it just isn't worth it at today's prices. Harry Potter certainly makes a case for a bit of sand green and tan.

I keep forgetting to respond to this. Thanks to all for the helpful comments and insight. It's funny how you don't notice something until someone else points it out. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks, I appreciate all the advice!